House of Thumbs - Home EP (Own Label)

Just. Fekkin. Me(n)tal.

Release Date:

23 May 2013 - 11:30pm

It's straight into it with House of Thumbs' latest EP Home; the opening track Stigma slaps you about with a barrage of guitars and drums. There are no gimmicks here - just riffage galore and unholy vocal lines screamed, squealed and bellowed with passionate abandon. Linden Audino's vocal delivery appears heavier than on Crossing the Rubicon (2010); indeed the whole band seems to have developed into a more technical outfit - which is no bad thing. This is very apparent on P.I.G.S. which is perfectly executed and totally chaotic. The track leaps about the place switching tempos and rhythms like nobody's business, and the guitars are needle-sharp, jabbing in my ears and eyes with every note. Nice.

Nick Lord and Jake Mormile have thrown everything into this EP, dragging each tortured note from their guitars alongside Nick Rackham's (quite groovish in parts) fat bass lines. And I can't go past Tom Rossell on drums who does a top job on every track on here, throwing in some lovely percussion around the thunderous blasting double-kicks and providing a solid back-bone for the rest of the band to go mental around.

The blasting beats are nowhere more apparent than on InkBlot. Everything is heavier. Everything is more complex. Everything is more beautiful. Title track Home has guitar riffs that whip like Cthulu's angry tentacles and these House fellows need to get on tour immediately so I can see them in a live environment, which is where I suspect they will go off like a some kind of incendary device.

Last track Maelstrom again delivers more of the same juicy, stripped back metal goodness that highlights that Australia is pumping out some of the best metal bands around. No gimmicks. Just metal. Super-fantastic.